Way to show that you don't realize that the religion you believe in is full of myths and fairy tales. |
Athiests are not people who are certain that there is no God. They are people who do not believe in God. They are a-thiests, that is, Not theists. Also, adult believers only believe in God and not any other supernatural beings, like fairies or Santa Claus. Fairies and Santa are considered childish, but God is not. |
Most of these (except neighborhood) are not places you can find community for a family, and having a family is a big driver to join a religious institution. |
What's the difference between atheist and agnostic then? |
Bars? Other than the bar in Cheers (🎶where everybody knows your name🎵), what bars are you finding community in? |
Merriam Webster has this useful context under its definition of atheist: "How Agnostic Differs From Atheist Atheist and agnostic appear in the same contexts but are distinct in meaning. Atheist refers to someone who does not believe in the existence of a god or any gods. Agnostic has two relevant meanings: it can refer to someone who holds the view that any ultimate reality, such as God, is unknown and probably unknowable, or it can refer to someone who is not committed to believing in either the existence or nonexistence of God or a god." I get the impression that a lot of atheists on this forum are actually agnostic. |
The fact of the matter is that "agnostic" sounds softer than "atheist" and thus is easier to call yourself publicly. People often feel sorry for agnostics - assuming they are trying to believe, or want to believe, while the term atheist seems harsher. How do I know? Just a guess. I've noticed that people are put off by atheists. Agnostics get pity and atheists get anger. I don't like either reaction. |
DP - I don’t think that is the reason from my experience with agnostics. It seems to be that for some people, intellectual honesty is better expressed through agnosticism - metaphysical beliefs cannot be proven or disproven through science. Certitude is foolish without evidence. Very little in life is black and white. There are always different viewing lenses for understanding reality. Agnosticism more fully allows for lack of certitude in which to explore different aspects of reality. I don’t feel pity for agnostics or atheists - everyone is entitled to their beliefs. |
I don't think agnostics are pitied. IME, self-described agnostics are much more understanding of a wide range of beliefs. It's hard to be judgmental of others when your own worldview is "we don't know." There's a live and let live attitude. Self-described atheists, on the other hand, often want to argue about God and "prove" religion wrong. It's antagonistic. |
No, they are mostly atheists. AKA they are as certain about the existence of various gods as they are about fairies and leprechauns. Do we go around saying we are Santa agnostic? No. |
So exactly like the believers who want to argue on DCUM. ![]() |
Including the atheist haters? |
Except I think most agnostics acknowledge there is a difference between deities and fairies/leprechauns/Santa. Only self-described atheists insist on pretending all these things are equal for the sake of a tired argument. |
You can be both agnostic AND atheist by the way. I don’t know (of course I don’t ) but I don’t believe in a god.
In addition, I would bet that most atheists seem antagonistic towards religion for the same reason - they see the harm it has done on and individual level (often themselves ) and on a human level . So then that leads to a good reason to dislike religion |
Its not a tired argument. The same sort of reasoning to defend the existence/non-existence applies. Humor me and walk my simple mind through how agnostics differentiate between deities and fairies/leprechauns/Santa? |